World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and other critics of the new world champion D Gukesh. He questioned the traditional chess structure and the 18-year-old’s triumph over Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024. He has been retaliated against by Indian chess icon Viswanathan Anand. Gukesh became the youngest chess world champion ever after defeating Liren in the decisive Game 14 last month in Singapore.
Before Ding’s final mistake on move 55. The World Chess Championship 2024 was headed to the tie-breakers after the match was deadlocked at 6.5-6.5. D Gukesh won the match with an additional pawn in the king pawn ending thanks to the 55.Rf2 move. Some past world champions, especially Russian Vladimir Kramnik, harshly criticised Ding for his expensive error. Calling the outcome the “End of chess as we know it.”
Anand, the five-time world champion and former number one, has the perfect response to Gukesh’s critics, even though criticism will never stop. The 55-year-old FIDE vice-president clarified that Gukesh’s unrelenting aggressive style was what caused Ding to make the 55.Rf2 error rather than it happening by accident. Gukesh had previously demonstrated remarkable maturity in responding to criticism when he stated that “willpower and character.”
Vishy Anand Blasts Critics
They are just as crucial in a world championship as game quality. Gukesh will play in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025 at the Wijk aan Zed in the Netherlands, which begins on January 17, after missing the 2024 World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Vishwanathan Anand recently mentioned at an event that Gukesh never significantly altered his strategy of pushing forward. He added that unexpected things occurred during the match.
Gukesh persisted and continued pushing the next day. Anand also remarked that the rook blunder did not happen in isolation. The veteran Grandmaster said, I get that maybe in some of the games, the quality was not high but I think the world championship matches are decided not purely by chess but by who has the better character and who has the better willpower. And I think those qualities, I did show quite well.
